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Do the Right Thing

When: Thu., Sept. 6, 7 p.m. 2012Price: Free

From the Public Enemy-fueled first minutes of the opening credits, Spike Lee's 1989 film Do the Right Thing busted open Reagan/Bush-era racial tension on screen. Although scripted with the self-consciousness of a stage play, the story is set on a Bed-Stuy block on the hottest day in memory. Mookie (Lee) works at Sal's Famous Pizza. Sal (Danny Aiello) bristles when his all-Italian "Wall of Fame" is challenged by Buggin' Out (Giancarlo Esposito) for having no black people pictured. Everyone's on edge as the neighborhood's temperature rises by degrees, erupting into a riot when Mookie chucks a trash can through the restaurant's window after the death of a friend at the hands of police. Lee—who directed and produced the film as well—was nominated for a best-screenplay Oscar. The film's part of the Nasher's "'80s to the M-M-M-Max" film series, running each Thursday night through September and organized by Hank Okazaki at Duke's Program in the Arts of the Moving Image. It accompanies the exhibition Time Capsule, Age 13 to 21: The Contemporary Art Collection of Jason Rubell. Other films in the series are Wild Style, Downtown Calling and Basquiat. The free screening begins at 7 p.m. —Chris Vitiello